Why are you selling our water

The controversy surrounding data centers in Texas has added to the many concerns residents have about water. After all, it's just something that comes out of the faucet when we need it, right?

Most people don't think much about water until something happens that is outside the norm, like:

• Water isn't flowing out of the faucet.
• What's coming out of the faucet is brown rather than clear.
• Cold weather has frozen pipes and water is spewing everywhere.
• It hasn't rained, the lake level is dropping, and we're told not to water our lawns.

WHY????

Like your HVAC going out during the hottest part of summer or the coldest days of winter, when water is not readily available, we panic and begin to question everything from where our water comes from, why it costs so much and why such an everyday thing has to be such a big deal.

We take water for granted. In Texas, that could be a big mistake.

We'd like to answer your questions about water: where it comes from and how the State of Texas has set up a system to get that water to you, so we're providing a set of frequently asked questions and their answers.

If you don't find what you're looking for here, let us know, and we'll be happy to answer your questions.

Where does the water that flows from our faucets in Texas come from?

Basically, there are two kinds of water in Texas. Groundwater, which resides under the Earth's surface, and surface water, which flows in creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes.

There seems to be a lot of water available then, right? Really, not so much.

When the pioneers arrived in Texas, water was not always easy to find. So, often settlers located near a river or stream for access, or they dug wells to reach groundwater.

Living near rivers, the pioneers learned quickly that water in the state was either feast or famine. Periods of drought followed by massive flooding plagued the newcomers. On numerous occasions, massive flooding killed hundreds. But the settlers learned quickly that access to water was their lifeblood and assurance of survival.

As a result, the early Texas lawmakers put together some pretty specific water laws that date back to 1845. The state's oldest system was based on Spanish riparian law, which allows those who own land next to a waterway to access water for raising crops or livestock for their personal use.

The Texas Legislature determined that in addition to assuring access to water, they had to find a way to stop the loss of life and property imposed by the state's fickle weather.

But at the start of the last century, the Texas Legislature passed the Irrigation Act of 1913, which declared all unclaimed surface water throughout the entire state to be state-owned. The act created a state board to oversee a permitting system for these water rights. Over the years, that agency has had numerous different names. Today, it's called the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

What gives the BRA the right to sell water out of our lakes?

As mentioned earlier, the state of Texas owns all the surface water within the state, and the TCEQ is the agency responsible for issuing permits, sometimes called water rights, to use that water.

Permits are issued for specific amounts of water for specific purposes, allowing cities, counties, districts, industry, ranches, gas and mining, and agencies such as river authorities to access the state's water for beneficial purposes.

Of the more than 2,387 current water rights issued by the TCEQ for the water available within the Brazos River Basin. The Brazos River Authority now holds 17 individual permits, allowing the organization to store water in three BRA-owned and operated reservoirs and, via contracts with the federal government, in eight US Army Corps of Engineers multi-purpose reservoirs. The water rights issued to the Brazos River Authority allow it to store and distribute water under the terms of each permit. Together, the 11 reservoirs create the BRA Water Supply System.

The BRA distributes the stored water by issuing long-term contracts (usually for 30 years) to cities, electric providers, industry, farms/ranches, and mining interests. The fees for these contracts are billed annually at a set amount called the System Rate. With the exception of agricultural contracts, all long-term contract holders pay the same amount per acre-foot of water set annually. The agriculture rate is currently billed at 70% of the full System Rate.

The income from these contracts allows the BRA to maintain the dams and reservoirs that allow the organization to store the water, to build pipelines to transport water where it is needed within the basin and to develop new water sources to meet the needs of our growing population.

If you'd like to learn more about how the state of Texas issues water permits, go here

What's the difference between a water right and a water contract?

As we mentioned before, there are a number of ways to obtain water in Texas:

• be a landowner with property adjacent to a waterway. Stream-side property owners using water from a river or tributary may use a specific amount of water for their personal or household use without a permit. The landowner must register with the Brazos Watermaster to secure their right to divert. However, if they are raising crops or livestock for sale, they must have a permit from the state to take water or contract for water from other permit holders,
• obtain a water right/permit from the state, or
• purchase water by contract from a person or organization that has a water right such as the Brazos River Authority.

The BRA has 17 state-issued water permits to access and store water, under which the organization issues long-term contracts for water to municipal, industrial, mining, irrigation, and agricultural interests throughout the Brazos River Basin.

How can the BRA get away with selling more water every time it rains?

The BRA is not allowed to sell more water just because it rains. Because there is a specific, measurable amount of reliable water available within the Brazos River Basin each year and every permit holder has a right to their permitted allotment. In 2015, the Brazos Watermaster Program was formed by the TCEQ to monitor water use within the basin to ensure that all permit holders receive the amount of water permitted to them by the state.

All permit holders within the Brazos River Basin, including the BRA, are required to report the amount of water they use on a weekly or monthly basis to the Watermaster's office. Therefore, the BRA requires each of its contract holder that use water under the BRA's 17 water permits to report their use to the BRA's Water Services Department, which, in turn, reports the usage to the Brazos Watermaster.

It's a system of checks and balances to ensure that everyone in the Brazos River Basin has enough water to meet the needs of those living in their area. So, if the BRA were to sell more water when it rains, it would be in violation of its state permits.

Why do you continue to sell water when it hasn't rained and the lakes are low?

This is a commonly misunderstood issue for the Brazos River Authority. Water is not being sold on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis.

The BRA's contracts are not like residential water use, where the amount of water you use is measured and billed at the end of a 30-day cycle. Rather, contracts are made on a long-term basis and are invoiced and paid annually. When the water is needed, it is drawn from an agreed-upon point within the Brazos basin, and the water use is reported to the BRA, which, in turn, reports the use to the Brazos Watermaster.

However, within each BRA contract is an obligation that all customers must follow the requirements of the Brazos River Authority's Drought Contingency Plan. The Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) is a program required by the TCEQ that must be implemented during times of drought in order to extend available water supply until it begins to rain again.

The DCP includes four levels, each requiring contract holders to implement their own drought contingency programs and, when doing so, to cut back on the amount of water used by a specific amount, from 5% to 30% or more, depending on the severity of the drought conditions. As lake levels decline and drought trigger levels are met, customers are notified to begin this process and are expected to have cut their water usage back by that specific amount when doing their regular water use reporting. When drought conditions are eased, the drought status is rescinded or removed and regular water use may resume. To learn more about the BRA's Drought Contingency Plan, go here.

Is the BRA selling water to data centers?

As mentioned earlier, the BRA has 17 permits with the state to provide water within the Brazos River Basin. At this time, all of the permitted water available for long-term, large-contract use has been placed under contract.

The BRA currently has no direct contracts with any data center companies. However, it is possible that some of our current contract customers, particularly municipal customers, may be directly providing water to data center companies through the water they have contracted with us. Additionally, some of our industrial customers may choose to temporarily resell water they are not using under their current contracts to other users, including data center companies. In both cases, this water would be provided under contracts already in place and would not constitute new water sales directly from the BRA.

It is also very likely that some of BRA's current industrial customers may, in the future, change their lines of business and either directly support data centers or develop them themselves. This is not something the BRA can control.

The BRA's job is to provide water for any legal or statutory use under the Texas Water Code. As long as the water is being used for the purpose stipulated in the contract, the amount used does not exceed the amount specified in the contract, and the amount used is being accurately reported by the receiving entity, that is where BRA's limited jurisdiction on the matter ends.

If you have additional questions about BRA's involvement with data centers, please go here.

If you have additional questions not addressed here, please let us know and we will be happy to answer them for you. You may reach us by email at [email protected] or by phone at 888-922-6272.